Carton



Aug. 21, 192s. 1,681,700

W. F. FOLMER CARTON Filed Jan. 28, 1926 o b wer Patented Aug. 21 1928.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM F. FOLMER, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

CARTON.

,Application filed January 28, 1926. Serial No. 84,315.

This invention relates to cartons or paper boxes such as may be employed, for example, for the packaging of various articles of merchandise, such as eggs. It is a practice of some unscrupulous dealers to open packages of well-known merchandise, remove some or all of the merchandise, substitute other and inferior merchandise therein, close and sell the package as goods of the original source, and then sell the removed superior merchandise at an advantageous profit. Such practice is very damaging to the good will of the merchant putting out the packaged merchandise.

In cartons for fragile objects such as eggs, attempts have been made to protect the eggs from injury by forming convex abutments in the bottom wall of the cartons, but such abutments are like bridge arches and therefore so rigid that they do not have the resiliency necessary for supporting fragile objects.

One object of the invention is to provide an improved carton for fragile objects which will more effectively support such objects with lessened danger of breakage due to handling of the cartons.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved carton or container for the marketing of merchandise which may be closed in such a manner that when opened itwill be so injured or defaced that it is not likely to be again closed and sold as original perfect merchandise, and which if so closed and used will bear evidence that it has been tampered with or opened and reclosed, whereby the consumer or final purchaser may know by an examination of the package, whether or not he is obtaining goods which he expects to obtain.

A further object is to provide an improved container for accomplishing these objects which will be relatively simple, easily closed and sealed, and inexpensive.

Various other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description of an embodiment of the invention, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out hereinafter in connection with the ap pended claims.

1 In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevation of a container coir structed in accordance with the invention for the marketing of eggs;

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the same;

Figure 3 is a perspective of the same container before use, and with the supporting cell for the eggs removed;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary elevation on a larger scale of the locking means for the closure of the carton before the seal is applied thereto; and

Figure 5 is a transverse sectional elevation of the closed but unsealed package, with the section taken approximately along the line 55 of Figure 4.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the container 10 may be formed of sheet material of any shape or size, and in the particular example illustrated is formed from a stamped and folded blank of sheet cardboard having end tongues 11 folded over one another and againsta tongue 12 folded up, from the bottom wall of the closure to form an end wall. A part of the blank serves as a cover or closure 13 which closes the open face of the carton, and may'have end flaps let which may enter the interior of the carton when the cover is closed.

The cover or closure may also have a flange or flap portion 15 which extends downwardly along the front face or wall of the carton when the cover is closed. This flange or flap 15 may have cut therefrom an arrow-shaped loo-king tongue 16, which remains attached at one end to the flap adjacent the folded edge between the flap 15 and the cover, and so as to extend away from that folded edge. The front wall 17 of the carton may have a slit or aperture 18 cut therefrom at such a position that when the cover is closed and the flap 15 is disposed against the rear face of the front wall, the tongue 16 may be passed through the slit or aperture 18 in order to lock the cover closed.

The tongue 16 is preferably undercut in one or both side edges to form one or more shoulders 19, which may engage with a margin or end wall of the slit or aperture 18, in orderto lock the cover in closed position. The end walls 20 of the slit or aperture 18 are preferably made convergent toward one an other in a direction toward the open face of the carton, and the longer base or edge of the slit 18 is lowermost and preferably approximately equal in length to thewidest portion of the tongue 16 which is to be inserted there through, so that after the tongue is passed through the slit, its shoulders 19 will hook over the converting end edges or walls of the slit or aperture 18, and lock the cover firmly closed. Any opening pull upon the cover will thus more effectively interlock the tongue with the carton wall 17.

After the container or carton has been filled with the article or articles to be sold,'and the cover is closed and locked, a suitable seal or sticker 21 is secured to the front face or wall 17 of the carton over the slit or aperture 18, and covers the shoulder portion or section of the tongue 16, as shown clearly in Figure 1, but leaves exposed the free or tip end of the tongue 16. This exposed or free tip end of the tongue 16 thus appears as a tab for opening purposes.

The natural instinct of a co'nsun'ier in opening a package is to grasp the exposed tab or free end of the tongue 16 and pull it upwardly toward the cover, and in doing so the tongue would either be torn off where it passes through the slit or aperture 18, or it would tear open the portion of the side wall 17 between the slit or aperture 18 and the open face of the carton. In either of these cases the carton would be so defaced or injured that it could not be readily closed again without showing clearly and definitely that ithad been previously opened. The sticker seal or the carton, or both, may carry suitable instructions to the consumer as to this manner of opening the package.

It will be observed that with the shoul dered tongue, as a part of such an interlock between the cover and the side wall of the carton, the tongue 16 can not be readily pushed backwardly through the slit or open-' ing 18 without tearing loose the seal or sticker, which tearing or loosening would show that the package had been tampered With.- The package also will not open accidentally with such an interlock for the cover. 'The provision of such cover interlock for a package or carton of this type, would not materially increase the cost of the carton, and the merchant or dealer using such a carton could be more certain that the goods placed therein by him would reach the consumer without material danger of tampering or substitution of contents by unscrupulous persons or dealers through Whose hands the package might pass before reaching the ultimate consumer.

lVhen the carton is utilized for packing eggs, its bottom wall may be struck upwardly, as shown in Figures 3 and 5, in order to form elevated concave seats 22 in which the ends of the eggs may rest above the bottom plane of the carton. The interior of the carv ton may also be provided with a suitable supporting cell frame or form 23 having apertures therein for receiving and supporting the eggs which rest in the concave seats 22.

It will be obvious that various changes in the details of the simple embodiment of the invention, which has been herein described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of the invention, may be made by those skilled in the art in order to meet various commercial conditions, within the principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

What I claim is 1. A distributing carton for merchandise comprising a container of sheet material having a cover, a wall of said container having a slit spaced interiorly from an edge of the open face which is closed by the cover, said cover having a projecting tongue lying behind the inner face of said wall and engageable in said slit when the cover is closed, and a sticker seal secured to said wall over the slit and the adjacent intermediate portion of the tongue when the cover is closed, leaving the free tip end of the tongue exposed as an opening tab, whereby the'consumer in opening the carton will by pulling up the opening tab, usually tear the tongue through the wall and render unlikely subsequent use of the carton for merchandise distribution purposes. I

2. A distributing carton for merchandise comprising a container of sheet material having a cover, a wall of said container having a slit spaced interiorly from an edge of the open face which is closed by the cover, said cover having a projecting tongue lying behind the inner face of said wall and engageable in said slit when the cover is closed, and a sticker seal secured to said Wall over the slit and the adjacent intermediate portion of the tongue when the cover is closed, leaving the free tip end of the tongue exposed, as an opening tab, whereby the consumer in open- 7 ing the carton will, by pulling up the opening tab, usually tear the tongue through the wall and render unlikely subsequent use of the carton for merchandise distribution purposes, a side edge of said tongue at the point where it passes through the slit being undercut to interlock with the wall at an end of the slit, whereby release of the cover by sliding the tongue back through the slit will be made diilicult.

3. A distributing'carton for merchandise, comprising a container of sheet material having a cover, a wall of said container having therein a slit running approximately parallel to and spaced interiorly from an edge of the opening which is closed by said cover, the end edges of the slit converging toward said opening edge, said cover having a projecting tongue lying against the inner face of said wall and engageable in and projectable beyond said slit when the cover is closed, a side edge of said tongue at the point where it passes through said slit being undercut to form a shoulder interlocking with the slit margin to prevent withdrawal of the tongue from the slit, and a sticker seal secured to said wall over the slit and to the adjacent intermediate portion of the tongue when the cover is closed, leaving the free tip end of the tongue exposed as an opening tab,'whereby the consumer, in opening the carton, will, by pulling up the projecting opening tab, tear the tongue through the wall and render unlikely subsequent use of the carton for distribution purposes.

4:. A distributing carton for merchandise comprising a container of sheet material having a cover, said cover and a wall of the container interlocking with one another by means of a tongue which lies against the inner face of the ,wall when the cover is closed, said tongue projecting at its free end materially beyond the point of interlock, and a sticker seal secured to the container over the interlocking area,

ing a cover, said cover and a wall of the container interlocking with one another by means with the free end of the tongue exposed for use as an opening tab, whereby. ,the consumer in opening of a tongue which lies behind the inner of said wall when the cover is closed said tongue projecting at its free end materially beyond the point of interlock, anda sticker seal secured to the container over the interlocking area, with the free end of the tongue exposed for use as an opening tab, whereby the consumer in opening the carton will, by pulling the opening tab, usually tear the tongue throu-gh the part with which it interlocks, and render unlikely subsequent use of the carton poses, said tongue having an undercut at the point of interlock preventing its sliding separation from the part with which it interlocks.

6. A distributing carton for merchandise -formed of sheet material and comprising body walls and a cover having a flap adapted when the cover is in closed position to lie against the inner face of one of the body walls, said last mentioned wall having a slit therein and said flap having a tongue projectingthr'ough the slit and a sticker secured to said wall over the slit and over a portion of the tongue in a manner to leave the tip of the tongue exposed.

WILLIAMF. FOLMLER.

for merchandise distribution pur-- face i 

